The twin concerns of 'jobless growth' and slow poverty reduction are central challenges on the policy agenda in Africa. Poverty in Africa continues to be high; and the region has the lowest responsiveness of poverty to per capita income growth of any of the world’s developing regions. This research programme is intended to help fill the current knowledge gap on why Africans are 'working hard but working poor'. Recent research suggests that Africa’s structural pattern of growth during the last two decades is at least partly responsible.
The research objective is to broaden our understanding of the structural transformation challenge in Africa, link it to issues of employment creation and poverty reduction in a more systematic way, and provide practical guidance for policy makers. This project includes five components: (I) Learning to Compete (L2C) publications and communications; (II) the practice of industrial policy; (III) industries without smokestacks; (IV) Natural resources, jobs and poverty; and (V) increasing the employment intensity of growth.
Team
Focal points: Finn Tarp, Tony Addison
Research fellow: John Page
Assistant: Janis Vehmaan-Kreula
Communications: Annett Victorero
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Blog
Industrial policy in the 21st century: The challenge for AfricaWhy is there so little industry in Africa? Does it matter? What can be done about it? These were questions I put to Finn Tarp and Louis Kasekende...
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Can natural resources jump-start industrialization?At the end of last year, I filmed a lecture that will be part of a massive open online course (MOOC) on industrialization in Africa. The course is...
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The ins and outs of African industrialization: UNU-WIDER provides open access to a wealth of informationThe question ‘why is there so little industrialization in Africa?’ has been a key focus of UNU-WIDER researchers and research partners for the last...
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Rethinking African industrialization on another Africa Industrialization DayThis week I attended the 28th Africa Industrialization Day at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Even sympathetic readers may reasonably ask...
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‘Industrial’ policy in the 21st centuryDuring the past week, I participated in two international conferences. The first was the WIDER Development Conference in Helsinki: Think development -...
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What is the future of industrial policy in Africa: Views from Experts13 September through 15 September 2018, UNU-WIDER hosted the Think development - Think WIDER conference in Helsinki, Finland. Over three days...
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Prospects for a Tanzanian transformationResearchers, policy makers, and representatives of international institutions recently gathered in Dar es Salaam to discuss prospects for a...
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Africa's Failure to Industrialize: Bad Luck or Bad Policy?16 December 2014 John Page On 20 November 2014 the United Nations celebrated the 25th Africa Industrialization Day. But perhaps ‘celebrate’ is not...
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New Structural Economics – An Interview with Justin Lin27 August 2014 In this interview Justin Lin, Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER, talks about how the state can enable the process of...
Context
Main subject
Theme: 2014-18, Transformation